“Institutions have become increasingly dependent on IT in the areas of student life, learning, and administration,” writes Marilyn Ayres McMillan for EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit group that helps administrators understand the role of IT in higher education. “Automated information systems and the technologies that support them are among the institutions’ most precious—and most vulnerable—assets.”

Arguably the most important component of those systems is the data that passes through them: sensitive administration files, students’ personal information, accounting data, campus email and so forth. Even a partial or temporary loss of data can have a devastating effect on a school. This is why it’s so critical for a university business continuity plan to incorporate solutions for securely backing up that data and rapidly restoring it after a disaster.

1) Fire, flooding, and other physical threats

Business continuity in higher education is not a new concept. Most schools have been backing up their data for decades. But how and where those backups occur is more important than ever. Far too many institutions are relying on outdated technology that leaves their data at risk.

Consider a West Coast university that sits on active earthquake fault lines. Even if the school is storing its backups offsite, at a data center across the city, that data center would be equally at risk in a severe earthquake.

Not only that, but traditional backups are notorious for data corruption and painfully long recovery. Data losses that take days or weeks to recover (if they can be recovered at all) can be extremely costly for any school.

This is just one example of how a natural disaster, or even a terrorist attack, can compromise a school’s systems and its bottom line. And it’s why institutions are strongly advised to consider today’s advanced backup solutions like Datto, which provide virtually instant data recovery, along with the assurance of backups being stored locally and in the cloud via Datto’sbicoastal data centers.

2) Malware

Malware is arguably a far greater (and more common) threat than the physical threats outlined above, at least in terms of the danger to electronic information. Schools must proactively defend against all categories of malware, which are rapidly evolving. But that’s only one part of the picture. Today, a business continuity plan in higher education must also include protocols for restoring data if it has been compromised by viruses, Trojans, spyware and other malware.

Consider a piece of malware that goes undetected on your campus networks because it is new and unrecognized by your anti-malware technology. It corrupts data to the point of making it unrecoverable. Now, let’s pretend it is contained (mercifully) to the data within your financial aid department: all the information on your student aid packages, government subsidies, delivery of scholarships, emails and so on.

Imagine losing all of that data. How would it impact the school’s operations? How much would it cost to piece the information back together? How would it affect the school’s reputation?

This is a prime example of why schools must think beyond a simple business continuity plan template. With solutions like Datto, higher education facilities can depend on technology to secure and rapidly restore that critical data—without the corruptive problems and other headaches that are common with outdated backup solutions.

3) Ransomware

Ransomware is essentially malware that holds your data at ransom. The malware prevents access to your data and the attackers behind the malware demand large sums of money to restore access.

Ransomware is on the rise, and higher education is increasingly one of the targets. In June 2016, the University of Calgary paid $20,000 CDN to recover emails that had been encrypted by ransomware for a week.

The threat of ransomware requires the same safeguards as other malware mentioned above. But because of the extra layers of complexity and cost, every school should address the specific risks of ransomware within their college business continuity plan.

With a sound backup solution like Datto, institutions wouldn’t need to pay those hefty ransoms. As with each type of disaster outlined above, schools could quickly restore data from their secure backup and maintain operations with next-to-zero system downtime.

Tracy Rock is the Director of Marketing at Invenio IT. Tracy is responsible for all media-related initiatives as well as external communications—including, branding, public relations, promotions, advertising and social media. She is one busy lady and we are lucky to have her!

Invenio IT is the backbone for my disaster recovery solution. If I have anything wrong with my backups I am getting a call from Dale. This type of support is awesome especially when backing up 100+ servers.

Clyde Cornelius

15:08 07 Jun 18

Invenio IT has provided us with an excellent BDR solution in the Datto SIRIS. An enterprise-level solution at a reasonable cost, along with simplicity and ease-of-use, were a few items that helped us move to a Datto SIRIS.
The only surprise was the extremely detailed level of service and support we received from Invenio IT. After 20 years of IT experience as a support professional myself, I did not expect to be surprised by the sustained, over-the-top level of support and professionalism that we received from Dale and the Invenio IT team. But I was surprised, and very happily so. Actually, I couldn't be happier!

Edward Caco

15:31 05 Jun 18

The Datto Siris product works well and the web portal for management is excellent. My Invenio Rep is attentive, gets in front of issues and monitors the backup service.

Theodore Herrmann

21:35 04 Jun 18

Great product! Great Service. I was up and running in no time.

Robert Bearry

19:41 04 Jun 18

I highly recommend Invenio IT to everyone. They provide amazing customer service. They are very responsive, and quick to resolve any issues or concerns. They have been a tremendous resource for several IT projects. One product / service in particular that is an absolute must is their backup services using the Datto SIRIS. This is just one example of many that has simplified my life while giving me much improved data security. I have full confidence and peace of mind knowing my
data is secure and always available. By far the absolute best IT company I have ever dealt with.

William Porche

19:33 04 Jun 18

I am very pleased with the Datto project and support offered at Invenio IT. The professionalism and speedy response to all of my issues have been handled impeccably. I would highly recommend their services.
-Billy

Yogesh Mantri

21:09 24 May 18

We were looking for a product which will verify the backup everyday without our intervention. For our size, Datto Alto 4 by far is the best product available on the market for the up-front and recurring price. Everyday it shows that the image backup is boot-able. We did the test by visualizing the server in the cloud and connecting seven work stations to it, and it worked flawlessly.Dale from Invenio IT was there every step of the way from purchase to install to testing. He provided exceptional service. He oriented us to Datto environment very well and is always available to answer questions. Further, every day he is monitoring the backups and ensuring the success. We are very pleased with the results. Thank you Dale!

Kim Zayac

16:41 03 Nov 17

Datto/Invenio was installmental in saving my business. The SIRS had a snapshot of beginning of the day. So I was good to go in minutes with the last backup thank you invenioIT.

Rachel Leventhal

21:34 17 Aug 17

We have the Datto SIRIS through Invenio IT and we couldn't be happier. Great team with exceptional customer service. Keep up the good work!

gramfer

12:36 03 Aug 17

Invenio IT is simply awesome! I have been working with Dale for a couple of years now and the service and after sales support is great. I have submitted support requests and literally have had them resolved in under 20 minutes. That is great service!

Paul Gugel

01:23 26 Jul 17

I have a SIRIS2 backup hardware which is an outstanding product and Invenio IT is one of the best support companies out there. They keep me informed of anything that is going on with my backups.

Date Kouy

20:06 20 Jul 17

Quick response and good customer relationship. We been working with Invenio for over a year and it has been good results all around. Keep up the good work.

Grant Brown

20:34 18 Jul 17

Incredible professionalism from the Invenio staff. Hard working, a joy to do business with, and true innovators. This is a company that values its partnerships and will always do what's best for the customer.

Ron Rizzi

20:09 17 Jul 17

So... how complicated would your life be if you lost precious data files and there was no chance of recovery. Sounds scary. Yes it does. Life can be easier. You can take an associates human error of erasing or losing work or even an equipment failure that would have you work through the weekend in stride. Deploying a DATTO Sirus will protect your data locallly and in the cloud with so many easy ways to recover when the need arises. Support is excellent and reliable. Get a DATTO Sirus and rest... assured!

Jason Blair

16:51 17 Jul 17

Solid Datto support for our server systems. In the rare event there's been an issue, Invenio often knows before we do and has a fix ready. They are highly responsive to questions and keep our backup system.

Matthew Fex

16:35 17 Jul 17

The fantastic Datto SIRIS coupled with the helpful folks at Invenio IT have let me stop worrying about my backups and disaster recovery plans to focus on more important things such as my morning coffee and keeping users from destroying the network before lunch.

Gary Collier

16:11 17 Jul 17

Great partner to have. I recently joined the company I work for and found that they have a Datto backup system. I have never used the system and with the assistance of Dale at Invenio IT the learning curve has been an easy one. They typically let me know if something has gone wrong before I even knew it happened. Bottom line, outstanding support. I would highly recommend them for your IT services needs.

Gregory Carwile

16:08 17 Jul 17

Purchasing my SIRIS3 through Invenio IT has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. They always reach out to help whenever a problem arises, often before I even know there’s an issue with my backups. When my business got hit with Ransomware, I was able to restore my entire environment within a matter of hours thanks to my SIRIS3 and Invenio IT!

annmarie kotsianas

03:20 02 Jul 17

The Invenio IT staff is friendly and knowledgeable! They really know everything about the Datto SIRIS

Michael Marlin Jr.

16:50 28 Jun 17

Can't say enough about the folks at Invenio. They are experts in business continuity and a pleasure to work with!

Leander Gillard

16:19 19 May 15

Invenio IT is a great organization to work with. Their consulting and managed services are exceptional are always at the leading edge of I.T. Strategy and execution, anticipating what you need before you experience an expensive order of magnitude "issue". They lead with integrity and clear down to earth communications. Highly recommended.

Employment Employment

15:04 06 May 15

Great company medium sized organizations, handles all the management of data integrity, data redundancy/backup and all of your data management needs. I was truly lucky to have a excellent company supporting my orgazation when we did actually encounter data issues. Invenio IT was able to quickly assess and analyze the problem and then fix our issues with no down-time and little to no effect on our user base. Thank you Invenio IT.

T. Rock

14:22 06 May 15

Invenio IT has supported my business for the past few years and I have had a great experience. The staff is knowledgeable and go out of their way to make technology simple to understand. If you are in need of a strategic (and friendly) IT partner, I would consider this company.